The Empty Library
by fuzzylimpet
Summary: Saiyuki Gaiden AU.


"TENNN-CHAAAN!" Goku's voice was audible through the thick, wooden door of Tenpou's library, even before he knocked. "Konzen's busy and in a bad mood and I'm hiding from him so I thought I could come down and visit you--can I come in?"

Tenpou immediately stopped what he was doing, walked over to the door, and opened it wide. "Certainly," he said with a smile of greeting. "You're welcome here any time."

"Thanks!" Goku stepped forward, but stopped just inside the doorway. His gold eyes widened as he stared around at all the boxes and piles of books littering the floor. "Are you cleaning?"

Above Goku's head, Tenpou exchanged a rather pained look with Kenren, who was sorting through books by the desk. But the Marshal managed to smile, and said with forced cheerfulness, "In a manner of speaking. We were just about to take a break." He closed the door behind Goku.

"Oh. That's good." Curiously, Goku peered into the nearest of the boxes, one already half full of books. "How come these aren't on the shelf anymore? Are you lending them to somebody else?"

"No." Tenpou set the book that he'd been holding down into another box. "They just have to get packed away for a while." Before Goku's natural curiosity could spark any more questions, Tenpou smoothly changed the subject. "As I said, we were just getting ready to rest for a bit. How would you like a mid-afternoon snack?"

The three of them sat down in a cleared space in the middle of the floor for tea and cookies, while Goku related his latest adventures. They all involved various methods of wreaking havoc in Konzen's office, followed by hiding from Konzen and assorted other guards for the rest of the day. Goku had apparently tried to go visit Nataku, but he hadn't been allowed into the palace see him. So he had wound up here instead.

"I could help clean," he volunteered.

Tenpou gave a little laugh. "Well, thank you for the offer, but it's really more sorting than cleaning. If you'd like to stay, maybe I can get you something to read?"

Goku perked up immediately. "Anpan, Anpan! And Bread man and Curry bun, too! Do you have any more books about them?"

There was silence for a moment. Tenpou bit back a sigh. Well, there was no help for it now but to tell the boy the truth. "I'm sorry, Goku," he said apologetically, "I'm afraid that you won't be able to read those books anymore."

Goku blinked in confusion. "No more Anpan? But why?"

The question was so innocent, so genuinely curious. Tenpou had to close his eyes momentarily; to hide the expression that he feared might be in them, before he answered. "Things are changing in Heaven. There have been some complaints, and word has come down from the higher-ups that they intend to start making decisions about what we can read and what we can't. I don't have to destroy the books, but," he waved a hand absently at the shelves around them, "I just can't keep them here anymore."

"Someone complained about Anpan?" Goku said doubtfully, as if he couldn't quite grasp the idea.

Tenpou gave a sad little smile. "Everyone is different, and not everyone likes the same things. The Anpan books were written Down Below, you see, and aren't considered suitable for the 'refined' tastes of Heaven." Tenpou stopped, his lips compressing into a grim line. In reality, he suspected that someone considered Anpan's costume to be inappropriate, and took it upon themselves to get the books blacklisted. In another time and place, he might have been amused that someone was offended by form-fitting tights. However, when suppression occurred on this scale, the subject was no longer funny at all.

"This place looks so empty," Goku commented in a small voice, glancing around at the multitude of gaps on the shelves.

Again, Tenpou forced a smile, covering the heaviness that rose in his chest. "Well, I'm sure I'll find other things to fill up the space. Some bookends, or some nice plants." From across the room, Kenren was giving him a look that was as close to pity as Kenren ever got. Tenpou turned his head just a little, focusing on the opposite corner of his gutted library so that he wouldn't have to see that expression. "Anyway, Kenren and I have to get back to work now. All of these boxes have to be cleared out by sundown. But you're welcome to stay, if you'd like."

"That's okay," Goku said, still a little forlorn. "Maybe I'd better go back and see if Konzen's given up looking for me yet."

Kenren leaned up against a bookshelf as the door closed behind Goku, crossing his arms over his jacket. "Was it okay to tell the kid all that? He seemed pretty upset."

"Why not? It was the truth." Tenpou picked one of the 'approved' books up off the floor and replaced it on a shelf. His eyes were bleak. "We still have the right to speak the truth, don't we?" 

He laid a hand sorrowfully against the worn bindings of the books on the shelf in front of him. The bare spaces on the bookcases cut into him like they were holes made in the fabric of his own heart. Like Goku's books, many of these had been banned due to the technicality that they were written Down Below. Tenpou knew, however, that it was nothing more than an excuse. Someone had found their content on wars and fighting to be 'inappropriate'--material that could instigate violence in an otherwise 'peaceful utopia'.

"I'll be the first to admit that I'm eccentric," Tenpou murmured, unable to keep the clear note of anguish from his voice as he stared at the shelves in front of him without even seeing them. "Military otaku are considered strange by nature in a place where killing is prohibited. Furthermore, the study of brutal and bloody human wars is certainly not suited to everyone's tastes up here in Heaven. But it isn't right for a few to be able to suppress freedom of thought and expression because they don't share the same interests or ideals." Tenpou closed his eyes and shook his head in frustration. "There isn't a single idea on Earth or in Heaven that every person agrees with 100%. Diversity is a strength, not a weakness. It only becomes a liability when it festers into division."

There was a rustle of movement behind him, and the sound of booted footsteps crossing the floor. "Hn," Kenren commented philosophically, propping an arm up on the edge of a shelf. "Spoken like someone who reads too much. Better to say that we should all stick together, or we're screwed."

That earned him a small smile. "Perhaps you're right." He couldn't help but glance around the room. "I'll be reading less from now on, I suppose."

"Nah, I don't believe it," Kenren said. "Heaven may have its problems, but it's still a place full of weirdos. I'm sure even an eccentric guy like you will be able to get along somehow."

Tenpou laughed. "You're not very good at being reassuring, are you?"

Kenren only response was an impudent grin. It didn't reach his eyes, however, and after a moment, the smile faded from his face altogether. "Are you gonna be okay?" the General asked with gruff concern. "I'd expected you to be angry. You have a right to be angry, y'know."

"I was, at first," Tenpou admitted. "But now all I feel is sad. The people who are responsible for doing this just don't get it. Abuse of power only leads to more abuse. They'll be the ones who'll be the victims, in the end."

"They'll deserve it, too," Kenren said, his voice turning cold.

"No," Tenpou disagreed quietly. "They won't. No one deserves this." He looked around at the piles of boxes, the stripped shelves, and the books still waiting to be packed. ...Surveying the library that he feared might one day be nothing more than just another empty room.

"...No one at all."

~owari 


End file.
